ˈme.ˌträn noun
( plural met·ra -_trə)
Etymology: Greek, measure, meter — more at meter
: the minimal unit of measure in classical Greek verse constituting in certain meters (as the iambic, trochaic, anapestic, and the lyric forms of dactylic) a syzygy of two feet, in others (as hexameters of epic verse) a dipody and where necessary for analysis in the case of spondaic series a single foot, and in compound meters (as the ionic and choriambic) a foot of four syllables